easyJet shocking service at Gatwick!

[davidjh]

I must express my disappointment and anger with easyJet regarding the manner in which they handled passengers at Gatwick today. The service failure was systematic and systemic and highlighted the total lack of client/customer care throughout all levels of their organisation. This must certainly reflect managements attitude towards stranded travellers, whether on December 24, or not. Gatwick airport staff, including poor flight notice boards and tannoy announcements failed to keep passengers correctly informed as well. I can only conclude that this was because of lack of input from easyJet. To the easyJet captain who stood up on the N Terminal balcony this morning and promised that every effort would be made to get us to our destinations, nice try. Unfortunately it turned out to be an empty promise!

[Dash8driver1312]

Dear judgemental fellow. Did you follow said captain? Do you know how much or little effort was made by the individual in question.

And yes, as flight crew, I am much happier to risk my own life, the life of my crew, and the life of everyone else who is willing to get on board in questionable weather conditions. Honestly, I'd much rather fly the aircraft outside of its design limits, swamp the controllers, and use every last kilo of AVTUR than use any kind of risk-benefit analysis.

I also love when people shift the blame from one group to another. You seem to hold one airline responsible for an airport operator. Do you honestly expect a major systems fault to be corrected immediately? With how much manpower? At what cost? How often do such events occur? What rights do the staff have, and do you yourself apply such an ethic to your own working life?

[wowzz]

For :mad: sake - Gatwick North had a major power failure. Sometimes :mad: happens -what do you expect Easyjet to do - build a nuclear power station to sort things out?
if you are going to have a go at anyone, surely the problem is with LGW. By the way, how did your train journey go?

[smallpilot]

Dash8Driver... You've totally missed the point on this I'm afraid. This isn't about davidjh asking you, or anyone else to go 'above and beyond...' to get him and all the thousands of other travellers home for Christmas.
This is all about reputational damage to both the EZY and LGW 'brands' -something that in this age of instant social media (Twitter, Facebook, news websites etc) can turn a 'problem' into a full blown crisis in a matter of hours.
I suggest anyone takes a look at any media websites and look at the trashing that those 2 firms are getting. It looks worse than p*sspoor for both of them, something that even Mr 'what do you expect for 50 quid, **** off' O'leary has learned about.
His point about the EZY Captain was that he belived the Capt did what he did in the expectation that his firm would make the effort to inform and attempt to transport those thousands of stranded pax. Sadly it looks like his management have let him and all those pax down, and in turn LGW's management have left pax to fend for themselves. Between the 2 firms its a 'nothing to do with me guv, now p*** off' attitude thats clearly alienated and upset such a huge number of people, especially at this time of year.
As I say, reputational damage can destroy firms and hard won goodwill can be lost in an instant.

[T250]

Oh please, it wasn't just easyJet affected at the North Terminal today, others including BA, Emirates, Thomson and Vietnam operate out of there and I am sure they had just as little info to update their pax with.

Cut them a bit of slack and if anything like poster above said, your issue is with GAL the operating company of the airport, not your airline!! :ugh::ugh::ugh:

[Flyeruk]

Note that many EasyJet ground and air crew are giving up their Christmas day to fly out those stranded by the delays caused by flood damaged electrical systems at North Terminal (NOT EasyJets fault).


This is the first time Easy has ever flown on Christmas day.

[west lakes]

So the world expects these companies to be absolutely perfect and never have anything go wrong.
Bear in mind that the power failure at LGW could easily have been outside the airports control (it could have been UK Power Networks of National Grid equipment)
No one died, no one was injured so safety was ensured by what back-up power was available.
Tell me how many of you have a back-up generator, heating and cooking at home in case of problems?
How many have a back-up car in case of breakdown.

How many know what is involved with safely cleaning a flooded sub-station, possibly replacing equipment so it can be switched back into use?
Do you think it is a couple of hours or maybe a day or two.

Despite what folk think it is not an "instant" world!

[Phileas Fogg]

Tell me how many of you have a back-up generator, heating and cooking at home in case of problems?


Me, I do :)

But then I live on Siargao Island :)

[Gulfstreamaviator]

I will be in your patch in January, and hope that the services are working 100%.

Just watched a Programme on Phils food, on Discovery, makes me very humgry, forget the Turkey, give me stuffed frog any day.

Happy Christmas from Snow covered Middle East.

[PAXboy]

davidjh I see from your public profile that you have a good understanding of how things work in public aviation transport and I do sympathise but, if you look through the history in these forums about information to pax during a delay - you will see the reasons why information often does not appear. And that with a 'simple' delay. This was different and people have died.

Southern England had one of the strongest storms in a long time - and only a couple of weeks after the last unexpectedly strong storm. Here are a selection of headlines from the BBC today:
BBC News - Two die as severe weather hits pre-Christmas travel (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25484998)
BBC News - Power 'to remain out for Christmas' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25515310)
BBC Weather - Why is it so stormy? (http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/25511818)
BBC News - UK storm: Damage disrupts travel as more severe weather hits (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25503188)
BBC News - Stranded on a ferry: 'Injured people air-lifted to safety' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25500609)
BBC News - Heavy rain and 87mph winds bring disruption in Wales (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25500226)
BBC News - UK weather: 'Floods not over,' says Environment Agency (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25511998)

You are safe and have access to communications (hence your post on here) so, sorry, but that means you're OK. YES, I'm sure it was frustrating and irritating and upsetting and cost you money BUT, now that I'm old I have learnt about delays to my life plans and their poper proportion.

[Phileas Fogg]

GSA,

Services here are NEVER going to be working 100%!

I recall growing up in the south of London during, was it the Harold Wilson or Ted Heath, the early 70's power outages due to the miner strikes, particularly of an evening the family would sit around a home made candle of margarine and string ... one couldn't buy candles at that time in the shops, the country, myself included, was on a three day working week, and it was during that era there was a baby boom because many decided that during the extended hours of darkness there was nought else to do but to have sex.

How times have changed, regretably it's happened o Xmas eve but as soon as there's a power outage these days they're calling for "heads will roll" because they haven't been able to take the flight that they might have paid nigh on bogger all for.

I'm no fan of Maggie Thatcher, indeed she put me out of (Laker Airways) work back in the 80's, but she obviously got something right because these younger generations actually expect electricity wherever they may go!

[Agaricus bisporus]

Laker went bust due to excessive competition, overly cheap fares and
poor management.

How the heck was Mrs Thatcher responsible for this? Do tell!

[Ancient Observer]

The costs of giving out whatever info is available are close to zero.
If you do not know when "normal service" will be resumed - say so. And if you do not know when you will know, say so.

My worst ever airline "customer service" experience was with East at Gatwick. We had checked in and were airside. With no info whatsoever, no announcements, no nothing, Easy cancelled the flight about 20 minutes before departure time.

Clearly Easy knew there were pax airside.
We were ignored by Easy and everyone employed by the airport.

Eventually, a small group of us persuaded Security that we should not be where we were. The Security people escorted us back to landside.

It took hours for us to be reunited with our luggage. No thanks to easy.

It would have cost them nothing to communicate with us. We are still waiting for their apology. Pigs might fly.

[paully]

Todays headlines are tomorrows fish and chip wrappers....These morons who infest this social media with their faux`outrage` or jumping on a bandwagon, as we used to say, will soon be won back by Easyjet...How??..offer some cheap flights to popular destinations and they`ll be fighting each other for them on their beloved social networks:ugh::ugh:

An approach pioneered by O`Leary, who has proved he understands the human need for greed :ok:

Happy new year to all

[west lakes]

And just how many of the folk wearing Easyjet uniforms do you all actually think work for Easyjet?

Is the necessary needed to solve these serious issues actually included in the Handling Agent's contract, fine it should be, but is it?

Yes the agent is a contractor for the airline but I doubt you will find an open ended contract to cover every eventuality.

[GrahamO]

If you do not know when "normal service" will be resumed - say so. And if you do not know when you will know, say so.

Oh yes, I am sure that haranguing, baying mob in the terminal would accept those answers.:ugh:

How far down the pecking order do you imagine a passenger service person is, when the local electricity board is trying to find out how they can replace a transformer which is two feet under water ? The local electricity company doesn't give a hoot about a passenger to Torremolinos under cover in a terminal and is more interested in getting the problem solved without electricians being electrocuted.

I'm just saying that when you have a significant outage like this, everyone imagines their problems are top priority when in fact they are the bottom of the barrel in most cases. I'd be more concerned about getting the IC unit at the local A&E up and stable before a flight of drunks to Malaga can leave.

[Ancient Observer]

I know that a lot of people in Aviation hate customers as they are a dreadful interference when all staff want to do is enjoy them selves.

People in Aviation also hate to be told where their salaries come from. However, some Aviation Companies will one day simply close when an airline learns how to do Customer Service properly.

The Distribution 'leccies have been doing a great job over the holidays.

[One Outsider]

I know that a lot of people in Aviation hate customersIn general nobody likes whiny insecure don't-you-know-who-pays-your-salary types.

[Ancient Observer]

I have worked in a number of different sectors. I spent 4 years in Aviation.
Of all the different sectors that I have worked in, Aviation is the one with the worst customer service.

I suspect it comes from too many people in Aviation coming from a Civil Service &/or MoD background, or being trained/managed by someone with a Civil Service/MoD background.

The following is a typical response from some one in Aviation.

"In general nobody likes whiny insecure don't-you-know-who-pays-your-salary types"

[One Outsider]

Nor the chronically aggrieved.

[Phileas Fogg]

You lot should think yourselves lucky,

Here in the Philippines their idea of customer service is to blatantly lie to one's face and when one might decide to say to them "Stop lying to me you goddam son of a bitch" one needs to say it in a calm voice and with a smile on one's face ... but it doesn't work, much of Asia is moving forward but the Philippines is still stuck in the dark ages because nobody actually "kicks ass" here.

And as for them begging and asking for money based on my (white) skin colour, the carol singing started on 01 December, I've had 26 days of bl00dy carol singers now and my resort guests are peeing their pants that "Harry" my dog has, by now, been trained to chase away the carol singers :)

[Hartington]

Phileas, I wonder why they do that?

Over 30 years ago I went to catch a Royal Nepal Twin Otter from a strip in the Himalayas back to Kathmandu. Checked in in one half of the departure terminal (hut!) and underwent security in the other half.

Then the check in man annouced a delay. The plane had gone to Lukla earlier and the weather had closed in and trapped it. "But will come later" he said. Everyone just shrugged and headed off down the trail to walk out (only 2 days to Pokhara) so we followed.

I've often wondered whether the "but will come later" was a deliberate lie or a cultural thing to placate the masses (all 18 of us!).

[PAXboy]

Aviation is still in transition.

Many folks grew up with the era of (genuine) full service and still (subconciously) expect it. Even though they have paid a low price, they still think that this is not just a bus ride.

Further, they do not want to pay the airline to pay the airport to provide extra facilities in the heavy snow/rain/wind/pestilence that is visited upon the earth!

It is also an interesting time for EZY. I suggest that they have reached their objective as being very different from RYR as people now expect more from them. Don't bother quoting fares at me and that RYR might be more expensive than BA!

All UK airports are in a bind - do the job the way the customers expect? You won't get the customers because it costs money.

Happy Crimbo and my sympathies to the electrics staff and their families who have lost their xmas too.

[Flyeruk]

On the EZY return flight back from Malaga to Gatwick on Christmas day all the crew were each given an individually addressed card by a passenger that read

“Dear xxxx

Thank you for giving up your Christmas so I can have mine.



Regards Dxxx”

Faith in humanity somewhat restored.

[baggersup]

It's amazing to see how people are blaming one airline for a power outage that essentially closed the airport they use.

Then this vilified airline's staff gave up Christmas to try to get everybody to their destinations.

Wow.

This vilified staff includes an eJ captain friend of mine who gave up Christmas with his parents, wife and two small children to do this. He got home at 5 a.m. Dec. 26 after finally making his OWN way home after getting a flight down on the ground somewhere in Europe that had earlier been stranded in the UK. He then had to try to hitch flights home to The North where he lives--to get back from Europe where he then found HIMSELF stranded as that was his last flight of the day in that chaotic schedule.

Aside from that their large hub Gatwick had NO electricity for a long while. What were they to do at eJ? I'm baffled by this vitriol

[TightSlot]

I'm baffled by this vitriol
Sadly, I'm not

[Out Of Trim]

How stupid are passengers, that expect an airline to be able to just magically repair a major flooding of essential electrical sub-stations swamped by the River Mole that just happens to run underneath Gatwick's runway and past the North Terminal on it's way to the Thames.

Even Moses himself would have had a job sorting that out! The sub stations are obviously not well protected enough and will need to be moved.

These passengers should have just been advised to go home by the Airport's owner..

What idiot would arrange to travel by air so close to Christmas anyway..:ugh:

[Hotel Tango]

What idiot would arrange to travel by air so close to Christmas anyway..

Many have no other choice!

[edi_local]

Experience has taught me never ever ever to travel by air in the run up to Christmas and it's something I've always stuck to and never once regretted as every single year something goes wrong which means people are stranded for Christmas. May not always be the air, but the trains or roads too. You can be certain that at least one of these major networks will fail on the week running up to 25/12!

Anyway, that aside, I'm sure some passengers were advised to go home (not that the news would report on that, too much to be gained by showing people who "were given no information at all") but, like sheep, many of them choose to just sit still "just in case" something changes and they want to be the first to know/act. In cases like this I'd have gone home straight away. No point in hanging around, many people probably did go home, but too many people simply ignore what they are told to do and stay put expecting something and getting angry when that thing doesn't happen.

It's like when a major airport has mass cancellations for days on end and people are told under no uncertain terms, DO NOT TRAVEL TO THE AIRPORT, yet, without fail, you still see people streaming in to the terminal to join the long line of people who are all being told they are going nowhere. Ash Cloud and Freezing Fog at LHR a few years ago being perfect examples.

[ExXB]

Then why does it say "Check-in, bag drop & boarding gate opening and closing times are unaffected by delays" on Squeezie's web-site? Flight Tracker (http://www.easyjet.com/en/flight-tracker)

So unless you see "cancelled" at least 3 hours in advance, you go to the airport.

It is almost impossible to get accurate information on-line or by telephone, so what else do you do but go to the airport, because otherwise you miss your flight and you lose your money. Most people don't want a refund they want to travel.

There has got to be a better way of communicating with customers. How about spending 5% of profits an improving this single thing.

Don't blame the punter for following the rules, as they understand them.

[fa2fi]

I'd recommend everyone use the App. It's really good. I was able to see that day my flight was cancelled, so I drove. On the day in question aircraft were fuelled with crew sat on the craft waiting to go and the operation was very go minded that day. It was pretty late on before it became apparent that the North terminal operation had to be stopped. It was so unprecedented that LGW management have been before the select committee. That day was horrendous but I recommend you all get the app as the flight tracker is the best I've seen and the info you get is direct from the people who make the operational decisions, and not a middle man.

[PAXboy]

Which 'app' do you mean fa2fi?? The airport? The airline? Which flight tracker?


also ...
BBC News - Gatwick Airport boss apologises over Christmas Eve chaos (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-25646457)

[fa2fi]

That would be the easyJet app. That is the airline we're discussing here after all.

[PAXboy]

True, the thread is about EZY but had spread to the wider subject of Gatwick that day.

Thanks.

[fa2fi]

The title is still "easyJet shocking service at Gatwick". Not BA or others. Regards

[crewmeal]

I wonder if any of these problems will feature in future episodes of 'Airline' or 'Inside Gatwick'

[dmkc]

My wife was caught up in the LGW fubar on Christmas Eve - having had a BA domestic cancelled mid morning (due to depart circa 6pm) and her subsequently booked Easyjet replacement flight also cancelled around 2pm (she went to airport early from work via a taxi with the public transport issues)

Without labouring the points made, her view was that front line staff were simply not being fed the information they needed to advise pax. For example her flight was showing on the excellent EZY app as cancelled - however LGW staff refused to let her go back land-side (via escort) as far as they were concerned the flight Wasn't cancelled!

She did comment that throughout the front line staff did exceptionally well to maintain a level of customer service (Calm, considered etc) whilst under extraordinary pressure. She did have sympathy for them despite her situation (which to be fair was no where near as bad as some other people).

She eventually 'escaped' and travelled north via hire car.

[Davef68]

I'd recommend everyone use the App. It's really good. I was able to see that day my flight was cancelled, so I drove. On the day in question aircraft were fuelled with crew sat on the craft waiting to go and the operation was very go minded that day. It was pretty late on before it became apparent that the North terminal operation had to be stopped. It was so unprecedented that LGW management have been before the select committee. That day was horrendous but I recommend you all get the app as the flight tracker is the best I've seen and the info you get is direct from the people who make the operational decisions, and not a middle man.


It is good, but unfortunately (for me) not available for Windows Phone. However, I can access the website, which usually does have the info, usually hours before you get it at the airport.

I have noticed a pattern of airports not giving out delayed/cancelled flight information until the last possible moment, often after the 'flight call in 5 minutes' board announcement. e.g. in one case there was no way they didn't know the flight was being delayed by 2 hours until after the scheduled boarding time, but that was when they told us. I'd already worked it out by looking at the delay on the incoming aircraft on the web!

And my two worst customer service experiences last year were with Easy and Gatwick. Once, watching my flight take off after being stuck outside the terminal due to a security alert, the second was a 6 hour delay whilst watching three other EZY flights to my destination take off.(Easier and cheaper to compensate 1 flight load than 3 no doubt!).

Strangely, I never have bad EZY experiences elsehwere!

[Heathrow Harry]

couple of years back had BA do this at LHR - every time the Nice flight moved to "Boarding" there was an announcement putting it back another 30 minutes - for 3 hours..... when we boarded there was no tug and the pilots ran out of time so it was overnight in a delightful (not) airport hotel

[fa2fi]

I do think its strange that the carnage that BA cause at LHR several times every year goes unreported. Yet eJ experience it's own T5gate drama and it's all over the news. Only 2 years ago I was dumped in T5. No hotels, no way to get an LRV, a mob at the ticket desk and a call centre who never answered my call. I took a hire car home. My flight was refunded but my claim for rail travel denied as I should have contacted BA before purchasing my ticket up north. Interestingly nothing was mentioned here or on Facebook yet the carnage described on here about LGW sounds like my nightmare four hours in T5. I think as an LCC eJ will always be looked down upon and when things go wrong they are strongly criticised even though circumstances are out of their control. On the day eJ had prepped jets waiting to fly. On my day BA cancelled my flight so it could fly a more profitable long haul flight. Yet people just accept that.

[PAXboy]

fa2fi That's a very reasonable gripe to make. My guess is that it's because BA + T5 is 'old news'. EZY having a melt down is new news.

Also, the LGW power failure was news. Sending a news crew to T5 every time BA have a routine ops failure?No longer news.

[fa2fi]

A very valid point PAXboy. I had never thought of it like that.

[PAXboy]

Part of it is my cynical mind and part is that my step-father was a newspaper editor - not in this country I hasten to add! So I got to understand something of how it worked in the days long before digital cameras and cell phones. Underneath, I don't think it's changed much.

Also, to be fair, the LGW power blackout was unique in their history. Further, it was linked to the floods AND they had thousands of folks ready to mouth off at the reporters = Easy! (pun intended :ouch:)

[ExXB]

I'd put it slightly different. When things go pear-shaped at T5 it's never a surprise.